I been using the same 160gb hdd in a $9 2.5 inch enclosure since 2010. its even formated wbfs (the file system). It works great for me and i dont see the need to change it. id have to update all my loaders as well. I als have used usb sticks. most do work. Its still hit or miss. All homebrew is on the sd card and some roms for emulators. i also have the emulators for the wii connect to my server for a larger rom archive access. SMB network loading is boss.
Once again I fell down the martial arts rabbit hole and am plumbing the murky depths of the internet's various martial arts and fighting crafts echo chambers.
If you're not actively involved and only get up to speed every few years or so, you can see the tide of public opinion flapping worse than my dong while I'm skipping naked down a hallway.